Undead Alert: A New World War Z Trailer – and a Zombieland Series from Amazon

A new trailer and one-sheet for the zombie-apocalypse horror film World War Z were unveiled this weekend — and both feature swarming hordes of the rather spry and animated undead. As fans of the incredible Max Brooks faux-oral-history on which this Brad Pitt-produced project is based, we’re a tiny bit concerned about the frantic action-beat-driven pace of the clip, but we remain hopeful. But we’ll never get quite used to the idea of sprinting zombies — these brainless critters look like they could run down Usain Bolt.

In other undead news: Amazon announced that it will be producing a pilot based on Zombieland, the nimble 2009 horror-comedy that starred Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg. The pilot will join a dozen others (six comedies and six kids’ shows) that can be viewed by anyone with an Amazon Prime account — customer feedback will help determine which programs will get full-series commitments.

I've been waiting a long time for a World War Z film, being a huge fan of the novel and the tongue-in-cheek Zombie Survival Guide of the same author, and I must say that I am concerned at the 'creative direction' of this film. I won't lie to you; I am still likely going to pony-up the $6.50 at the cinemas on a 'tight-arse Tuesday' to see it, and maybe even see it twice, but I don't pretend that this will be even a half-way faithful adaptation of the book. I will treat it as such that it is advertised -- just another zombie film, albeit it a larger budget one. Once the dust-settles, I will hope that the film and hype fades away soon enough for Brooks to be approached by HBO to produce a mini-series which has the patience for the kind of narrative this book deserves.